Physician Continuity from Outpatient to Inpatient Care Is Declining

Continuity of physician care from outpatient to inpatient settings appears to be declining because of organizational changes in medical practice, including the growth of hospitalist medicine. In this study, researchers used a Medicare claims database for 3 million hospitalized adults to explore the perceived decline in continuity.

Continuity of inpatient care with any prior outpatient physician (i.e., one who submitted at least one outpatient bill in the prior year) declined from about 50% of cases in 1996 to 40% in 2006. Continuity of inpatient care with a primary care physician (i.e., a general practitioner, family physician, internist, or geriatrician who submitted at least 3 outpatient bills in the prior year) declined from 44% of hospit…